Mindless
by Alia Iris
Summary: The much-requested sequel of `Colour Blind'. Sometimes people change by meeting other people. This is also true for Harry and Severus. Warning, this will not have a happy ending. Chapter 3 is up!
1. Chapter 1

Mindless - chapter 1 Chapter 1 

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_Disclaimer: ~*~ Well, I never actually intended to write a sequel to _Colour Blind_, but the majority of the people who read it wanted one, so I kept that in mind. As you all will already know, the characters in this story belong to Joanne Rowling, as do the settings, spells, animals, etc. Excluding Vampires, as some of you will recall. They were never listed in _Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them_. Which means that I do not belong to her. I would also like to note that I will be cheerfully AU-ing in this story, as Book 5 is not out yet as I write this. Apart from that, the same warnings as last time apply: slash, and the possibility of angst, OOC, and general morbidness. You have been warned. As mentioned last time, flames will be used to toast the marshmallows we lure our prey with. And no, I don't intend to do another story in the disclaimers, that was just silly. *preens in a dignified manner* ~*~ _

(A "pop" is heard, and a pretty blonde girl appears out of thin air.) 

~*~ *blinketh* Who are you, and what are you doing here? You're not in the script. ~*~ 

Girl: I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I've come to end your miserable existence! 

~*~ *blinketh some more* Oh. *Disapparates* ~*~ 

Buffy: Hey, come back, you coward! *Disapparates* 

(~*~ Psst! No Vampire Slayers were harmed or maliciously insulted during the production of this motion picture! ~*~) 

* * *

He slept, lying on his stomach. He breathed evenly, his slim, wiry frame moving in the slow rythm. The firelight turned his pale skin to a deep cream. He was beautiful. 

Severus watched the sleeping boy, transfixed. The flickering light of the fire in the hearth caused small shadows to ghost over Harry's body. His mop of untidy black hair obscured his fine-boned facial features. Before Severus knew what he was doing, his hand had moved to the small of Harry's back and moved up to rest at the nape of his neck. The boy twitched awake, ever the light sleeper. Short-sighted green eyes opened and gave him a questioning look. 

"What's the matter?" he mumbled in a still slightly drowsy voice. 

"Time." 

"Hn." 

Without the slightest hesitation, Harry threw off the covers and got up, picking his way through the clothes which were scattered on the floor. As Severus watched, he pulled out the pants of his pale bluish pyjamas and slipped them on. 

"Just how long is this going to go on?" 

Harry stopped his search for his pyjama shirt and blinked at him. 

"What suddenly brought that up?" 

"You do realise that this is against the rules. It's so unthinkable that it's not even written down in the school rules." 

Harry shrugged and tied the cord of his pants. 

"Yeah, I know. Your point being?" 

Severus found himself glowering at the boy as he located his shirt and started to button it up. 

"You Gryffindors are all the same," he growled. 

Harry's eyes flicked up from his shirt. 

"I'd say that being a Gryffindor is obviously not the essential criteria for rule-breaking," he said dryly. 

Insolent brat. 

Harry plopped back down onto the bed next to Severus. 

"We're kind of in this up to our necks, you know," he said quietly. 

Severus didn't look at him. 

"What am I doing with you?" he whispered. 

Harry raised his eyebrows. 

"No, don't answer that." 

Something which might have been a small smile of sorts ghosted over Harry's features as his hand moved into Severus's hair. Silence followed. 

"Why do we keep doing this?" 

Harry shrugged. 

"I don't know. Animal magnetism, I guess." 

Severus couldn't help but glare at him. 

"Doesn't this bother you one little bit?" 

Harry swiped aside a strand of Severus's hair, looking remarkably indifferent. 

"Depends. If you mean I'm worried that Professor Dumbledore will find out, the answer is no. Knowing him, he probably already knows anyway." 

Severus shook his head in disgust. 

"Sometimes I wonder whether your parents dropped you on your head when you were little." 

For a second, Harry said nothing. Then he got up, only briefly stopped to scoop up his glasses from the bedside table, then made for the door. 

"Harry--" 

Harry stopped at the door and turned to face him. 

"You of all people should know to keep your mouth off my parents." 

With that, he walked out, leaving Severus baffled and alone. 

* * *

_**SMASH!**_

The Queen knocked the white Bishop's head clear off with her scepter, and threw the mutilated figure off the board. 

_**Thud.** Plink._

Harry winced. Ron and Hermione were really battling it out. Hermione's eyes scooted over the board for a second. Ron scowled at the board, and gave Hermione a look which said he suspected her to have gone completely batty. 

"Knight to C3," he ordered. 

The Knight impaled the Queen on his lance. Hermione maintained a complete pokerface as she picked the smashed pieces off the board. 

"Castle to D4." 

The castle scooted across four spaces. 

"Check." 

Ron blinked. 

"King to E8." 

The king stepped over one space. 

A wide grin spread over Hermione's face. Uh oh. 

"Bishop to H5. Check mate." 

Ron blinked, squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again and stared at the chess board. His King had dropped his sword in defeat. 

"I stunk," he declared with a very baffled look on his face. 

Something which might have been a snort of laughter came from Harry. Ron cocked an eyebrow at him. 

"Does that mean that you'll challenge me next?" 

"What, you can't beat Hermione, so you turn to me?" 

Hermione was smiling a remarkably sweet smile as she cleared the board and set up a new game. The broken figures had reassembled themselves with several painful groans. 

"Yeah," Ron said in a voice which suggested that that was the most obvious thing in the world. 

Harry rolled his eyes and got up from his chair. 

"No thanks." 

Hermione looked up from the chess board. 

"Where are you going?" 

Harry shrugged, already halfway across the common room. 

"Dunno. For a walk. Alone," he added with a look in Ron's direction. 

Ron frowned at Harry's retreating back. Hermione repeatedly tipped over and replaced a white pawn, a thoughtful look on her face. 

"I wonder where he's really going," she said quietly. 

Ron blinked in surprise, then chewed on his lip. 

"You sure he's really not just going for a walk?" 

Hermione stared into space, now twirling the black Queen between her fingers. 

"No, I'm not." 

Still, a thoughtful frown remained on her face. She put down the Queen. 

"How long has it been since Snape stopped tormenting the three of us?" she asked suddenly. 

Ron blinked. 

"Huh? What's that got to do with it?" 

Hermione shrugged and started to set up the black side of the chess board. 

"Maybe nothing." 

Ron frowned, but said no more. Hermione was wearing that calculating look she usually only wore when she was onto something, and it was best to wait until she was ready to share whatever theory she had come up with. 

"Don't say anything about it, okay?" 

Hermione's brown eyes fixed on him, even more serious than usual. Ron was surprised at the apparent importance of it to her, but nodded his agreement. 

"'Kay." 

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Mindless - chapter 2 Chapter 2 

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_Disclaimer: ~*~ *Apparates* *looks around* Phew, good, nobody here. Um, yeah, anyway, I'd like to note that the characters have undergone some major developments in _Colour Blind_, so I guess this could be seen as some major OOC here. Don't kill me. ~*~ _

(Buffy Apparates) 

~*~ AAHH! *Disapparates* ~*~ 

Buffy: Hey, come back here! *Disapparates* 

* * *

Severus turned at the sound of footsteps. A small smirk crept over his face. 

"Does that mean I'm forgiven?" 

Harry shrugged. 

"I guess so." 

Severus unlocked the door. 

* * *

Harry awoke in almost complete darkness. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the dusky red light. The fire had burned down to a few embers. Someone stirred next to Harry. Snape. As quietly as possible, so as not to disturb the older man, Harry extracted himself from the sheets and got up. After a bit of hunting around in the dark, he located his robes and put them on. The Invisibility Cloak followed. Harry did his best to open the door as quietly as possible, but it gave an inevitable creak. Snape stirred in his sleep and uttered a groan, but didn't wake up. Poor bastard must have been really tired, usually the slightest sound woke him. Harry tiptoed into the corridor and shut the door, which gave another clearly audible creak. Sometimes, Harry suspected that Snape left his doors unoiled on purpose, so he would always hear when someone came into his quarters. Or left them, for that matter. Paranoid in his own subtle way, Harry supposed. 

Silent as a ghost, Harry made his way through the hallways and to the portrait of the Fat Lady. She was peering into the darkness, obviously determined to stay awake. 

"Pocket Sneakoskope," Harry whispered in a slightly disguised voice. 

The Fat Lady frowned at the apparently empty space which had uttered the password, but swung forward to open the door. A password was a password. The pink-clad portrait vowed to herself that she would someday figure out just how an empty space had learned the password, and, even more intriguingly, to _talk_. 

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and got into bed as soon as the last door was closed. It was a good thing the Fat Lady was so dim-witted, for she would certainly not keep this juicy bit of gossip behind her mystery to herself, were she to ever find out. 

* * *

A zig-zag of blazing light flashed across his vision. A burst of pain followed so closely that it was almost simultaneous, violently yanking Harry out of his sleep. He cried out in pain and surprise, and clapped his hands over his forehead. 

About three quarters of a second later, he realised that there was someone standing at the side of his bed, and the light of a wand blinded him. Metal flashed in the light and sped towards Harry. In less than a heartbeat, he rolled to the side, but felt cold steel biting into his right shoulder. He blinked to clear his eyes, and saw the blurry figure of Neville dislodging the weapon from Harry's matress. 

Harry lunged for the chubby boy, and shoved him to the floor. The knife slid from Neville's grasp. However, despite that fact, Neville proved to be surprisingly strong, and was doing his utmost to wrestle Harry down. His fingers pressed into the wound on Harry's shoulder, causing him to give an involuntary yell. 

Ron, Dean and Seamus were up in a heartbeat. Harry wasn't sure who was loudly whispering what in the confusion that ensued. Within a few seconds however, the four boys had Neville pinned down. 

Harry fumbled for his glasses, and put them on just in time to see a vacant, dreamy look leave Neville's eyes, and be replaced by one of surprise and fear. 

"Wh-what happened?" he asked shakily, head whipping around to look first at Dean, and then at Seamus, who were still pinning him down. 

Ron had retrieved the bloody knife from the floor and held it out to Neville with a grim expression on his face. 

"You just tried to kill Harry, that's what happened," he almost snarled. 

Neville's eyes widened in fear and disbelief. 

"Bu-but that's impossible," he squeaked. "I-I would never do that!" 

Harry fingered the slash wound on his shoulder with a frown. 

"I think I know what that was," he said quietly. 

Ron, Dean, and Seamus turned to look at him. 

"Didn't you see his eyes? They were totally vacant." 

Ron frowned and bit his lip. 

"The Imperius curse? But there was noone here to cast it." 

Harry pressed his lips together, then met Neville's wide-open, scared eyes again. Dean and Seamus had both loosened their grips on his arms, but they hadn't let go yet. Harry rubbed his scar with a sigh. 

"I think whatever it was, it's over for now." 

He sat down on his bed and rested his head in his hands. 

"Harry, shouldn't we go see Dumbledore? This is serious." 

"What, now?" 

Harry looked up at Ron, who was still so pale from his fright that his freckles almost looked like pepper dusted over his nose. Silence stretched between them for several seconds. Finally, Harry sighed in resignation. 

"Fine. Let's go." 

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

Mindless - chapter 3 Chapter 3 

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_Yes, I know it's been a long wait. So hang me. Anyway, you've got your chapter now, haven't you?_

* * *

_Disclaimer: ~*~ *carefully pokes head in* Ahh, good, empty of malevolent Slayers. Yes, this stuff here **still** belongs to J.K. Rowling, much to my chagrin. ;)= Except this interpretation of mine, of course. That's mine. Mine, you hear, MINE! ~*~ _

(Buffy Apparates, armed with a large wooden stake and mallet.) 

~*~ Eek! ~*~ 

Buffy: Okay, that does it, I've had to Apparate through thousands of annoying fanfics, my lipstick is smudged, my mascara is runny, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT! PREPARE TO DIE, BITCH! 

~*~ I thought I was already dead-- *dodges swipe* Eep! ~*~ 

Buffy: I'll take you down, if it's the last thing I do!!! 

~*~ Yikes! *pulls out a remote control and points it at Buffy, who flickers like a TV screen, and suddenly disappears.* Phew. One foe beaten for the day. I'll NEVER tune into THAT show again. That's just dangerous for people like me! ~*~ 

* * *

Even in his sleeping attire, Professor Albus Dumbledore looked remarkably the same as he always did. Even his half-moon spectacles were already in place as he regarded the five boys from behind his desk. 

"Can you remember any of what happened while you were in this trance, Neville?" he asked kindly. 

Neville, who was cowering in his chair, shook his head. 

Harry sighed quietly and rubbed a hand across his eyes. A soft rustling sound caused him to raise his head, and he discovered that Fawkes the phoenix had taken the liberty to deposit himself onto Harry's forearm, which was limply lying on the armrest of his chair. 

"Hey, Fawkes," Harry whispered and stroked the beautiful bird's head. 

Fawkes chirped softly and rested his head on Harry's right shoulder. Harry only realised that large pearly tears were leaking from the phoenix's eyes when the sting of his slashed shoulder subsided. 

"Don't," he said quietly, but the wound was already healed, and Fawkes fluttered up to perch on Harry's shoulder. Harry sighed in resignation and continued to stroke the phoenix, while trying to pay attention to Dumbledore. 

The headmaster was looking at him without saying a word. 

"What?" Harry asked. 

A small smile touched Dumbledore's lips, and there was a shadow of his trademark twinkle inhis eyes. 

"What?" Harry repeated. 

"Nothing," Dumbledore said, keeping his small smile in place. "It just appears that you have made a lasting impression on Fawkes." 

Harry raised his eyebrows uncertainly and stroked Fawkes's head. 

"That _is_ a good thing, right?" 

The headmaster chuckled quietly. 

"I think you have learned firsthand that a phoenix can make a good ally." 

"Professor..." Ron said uncertainly, "What are we going to do about Neville?" 

Neville let out a small whimper. 

Dumbledore gave him a reassuring look before answering. 

"I think we are agreed that Neville is not the one we have to do something about. The real cause of worry is what it was that possessed him." 

Ron shifted uncomfortably in his seat. 

"I didn't mean to blame him or anything," he mumbled. 

Dumbledore nodded his understanding. 

"Well, I will see to it first thing tomorrow morning that proper precautions against incidents like tonight's will be taken," he said. "I suggest you lot get back to bed and get some sleep." 

His last few words were punctuated by one of his piercing looks at Harry. Not for the first time, Harry wondered just how much Dumbledore did and didn't know. With that thought in mind, he followed the others out of the office and padded back to the dormitory. 

* * *

The potion Harry was stirring turned an impressive acid green. Harry smiled wryly at it. Quite ironic, really, that something so dangerous-looking was supposed to heal cuts and abrasions. Harry lifted a ladle of the stuff and sniffed it. Sure enough, it had the predicted deep nutty smell. 

Brisk footsteps sounded behind him, announcing that Snape was running his humiliation rounds again. Yay. He stopped next to Harry's cauldron, stirred briefly and sniffed at a ladle of the liquid, held Harry's eyes with his for a split second, then moved on to the next student. 

Now what? Eye contact usually meant that Snape wanted to talk to him after class. Harry watched him quietly as he walked up to Neville, who was stressing over his own potion. It had turned a flourescent pink. 

"What have we here?" Snape purred, and ladled up a bit of the eye-smarting liquid before letting it dribble back into the cauldron. Neville cowered beneath Snape's looming form. 

Harry sighed inwardly. This was not going to be pretty. Although it had become less common for Neville to mess up this badly, Snape still apparently enjoyed picking on him when he did. 

"You added the tiger's blood too soon," Severus informed him smoothly, not quite managing to hide the evil glee in his voice. He held up the nearest jar of Grindylow scales for the class to see. "The scales come _before_ the blood, everyone." He put down the jar and tapped Neville's cauldron with his wand. "You will have to start again, Mr Longbottom." 

Harry stirred his potion thoughtfully. _I guess I'm not the only one changing,_ he thought to himself as he put the potion aside to cool. Warm, it was useless. 

When the bell signalling the end of class rang, Neville was still listlessly stirring in his now-green potion. Poor Neville. Harry sent a brief look towards Snape, who ever so slightly jerked his head towards the door. Some other time. 

* * *

Harry closed his eyes and let his head fall back into the pillow. Sheets rustled as Severus settled down next to him. He'd probably go to sleep within a few minutes, allowing Harry to slip away. Harry opened his eyes again and stared at the blurry ceiling. Funny, how he had become so accustomed to his current circumstances. He turned onto his side, pondering this. As usual when he was lying next to Severus, his emotions seemed distant and detached. The warmth coming from Severus's body didn't seem to reach him. Not that he felt cold. No, that wasn't it. At least not physically. It was just that an uncaring numbness seemed to have settled in his chest. Harry turned his head to the side and caught sight of his own wrist out of the corner of his eye. The veins were visible through his skin, seemingly blue-green. 

Suddenly, a long arm wrapped around his waist from behind and pulled him a little closer. Harry tensed up and fought a sudden feeling of claustrophobia. 

"What?" he asked. 

"Nothing." 

"Already? Can't you give me a little time to catch my breath?" 

A slightly testy sigh sounded from behind Harry. 

"Harry, if I say `nothing', I _mean_ `nothing'." 

Harry rolled over to stare at Snape suspiciously. But instead of being dark with lust, his face was wearing an oddly serious expression. His arm remained around Harry's waist as he closed his eyes and slowly drifted towards sleep. It was an odd feeling. In all their (albeit not that long) time as lovers, Harry couldn't remember ever being "in" Snape's arms. It seemed wrong. After all, the only reason they kept doing this was for simple sexual compatibility. 

Right? 

* * *

_Ta-da! On it goes. And we'll see when I'll have the decency to post the next chapter. But I do have a more detailed idea what I'm going to do with this story now, so hopefully the wait won't be too long. Thanks for the support, guys._


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